History Main / QuieterThanSilence

* Season seven of ''Series/Arrow'' features a villain called the Silencer. Fight scenes with her are completely silent.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 2}}'': When Shrek and Fiona make their entrance to the people of Far Far Away, everyone looks at them in shock while a lone baby can be heard amongst the crowd.

* A variation is used in the episode "Shriek" from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', where the only sound heard is a very high tone. [[spoiler:It's not actually silence, but to show that Shriek has gone deaf.]] Earlier in the same episode they do go completely silent, with the only sounds being the occasional distorted footfall when Batman moves.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMansionsOfTheGods'': When Asterix and Obelix get back to the deserted village, a tumbleweed is seen rolling around. And no, those shouldn't be found in Gaul....

* On GerryAnderson shows like ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons'', ''Series/{{UFO}}'', ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'', the airless silence of space or the moon's surface is conveyed by a slow droning sound like a cello or double-bass.

* ChirpingCrickets are classically played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', when one of Daffy Duck's jokes falls flat to accentuate the lack of response, even though crickets aren't usually found in the same places as vaudeville stages.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' would often use a stock hawk scream in place of a ChirpingCrickets.

->"''There are different kinds of quiet. There's the quiet when you finally get alone. People love that quiet. But then there's the quiet where you're waiting for something to find you, and the quiet drowns out the sound.''"
-->-Anonymous

->"''There are different kinds of quiet. There's the quiet when you finally get alone. People love that quiet. BUt then there's the quiet where you're waiting for something to find you, and the quiet drowns out the sound.''"

"''There are different kinds of quiet. There's the quiet when you finally get alone. People love that quiet. BUt then there's the quiet where you're waiting for something to find you, and the quiet drowns out the sound.''"

"''ItsQuietTooQuiet...''"

* A "quiet" room generally has ambient noise of 20-30 decibels. Specially constructed ''anechoic chambers'' like [[http://news.discovery.com/human/life/worlds-quietest-room-will-drive-you-crazy-in-30-minutes.htm this one]] can cut that to -9 decibels[[note]]The decibel can have negative values because it's a logarithmic scale[[/note]], well below the threshold of human hearing and quiet enough that people can hear their own ''organs working''. Apparently a total lack of noise is something of a BrownNote as apparently only ''one person'' has been able to stay inside for longer than 45 minutes: a Youtuber by the name of Veritasium. From the time [[https://youtu.be/mXVGIb3bzHI?t=3m55s the light goes out]] to the moment he steps outside, about [[spoiler: 1 hour,1 minute]] had passed.

* A "quiet" room generally has ambient noise of 20-30 decibels. Specially constructed ''anechoic chambers'' like [[http://news.discovery.com/human/life/worlds-quietest-room-will-drive-you-crazy-in-30-minutes.htm this one]] can cut that to -9 decibels[[note]]The decibel can have negative values because it's a logarithmic scale[[/note]], well below the threshold of human hearing and quiet enough that people can hear their own ''organs working''. Apparently a total lack of noise is something of a BrownNote, as nobody has been able to stay inside longer than 45 minutes.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'', Nascour's battle is mostly silent aside from the crowd in the background constantly chanting, "BATTLE! BATTLE! BATTLE!"

* An example of the exact opposite: Actual dead silence was used to punctuate the seismic charges ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIuzj_dICmw shown here]]) in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'', considered an experiment in cinematography by the film's sound engineers.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', when Zoro first learns to cut steel, the whole world goes silent save for his heartbeat--you can even see his opponent yelling, but no sound can be heard.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

** A similar effect is used in the climax of Aranofsky's ''TheFountain'', just before [[spoiler:the star goes supernova and explodes]].

* In ''Film/DeadSilence'' one of the signs of Mary Shaw's appearance is sound slowing down, then fading to nothing. The only things that make any sound are the victims and her.....
* In the middle of MichaelJackson's "Smooth Criminal" video, Michael raises his hand and causes a skylight to shatter, at which point the music stops. The crowd inexplicably starts moaning, then chants "Annie are you okay?" until the music starts up again.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* Twice in the [[TheNthDoctor Eleventh]] Series/{{Doctor|Who}}'s run, total [[ArcWords silence falls]]. First, at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E06TheVampiresOfVenice The Vampires of Venice]]", when ''all'' the sounds of Venice cut out, like the birds, the waves, and the people, then at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]" (including the ''music'' this time). According to WordOfGod, due to the same timey-wimey phenomenon that results in the same Crack appearing in widely separate times and places, it's actually ''the same silence''.
* In the ''Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}}'' episode "The Body"[[note]]The episode where Buffy's mother, the fan-favourite Joyce, dies[[/note]], there was no background music in the entire episode. This led to a lot of silent scenes, which made the episode much more affecting and depressing than it probably would have been if there had been music.

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
* A sound engineer colleague was asked to provide a "pin drop" silence for the opening scene. The solution? White noise, played throughout the theatre's speaker system and slowwwwwly raised in volume over 10 minutes. When the sound was cut your ears popped with the sudden silence

[[AC:VideoGames]]

* ''FireEmblem [[FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]'' has this when Ike calls out the leaders of the game's most powerful country for toying with him earlier, even though his country is dependent on their help.

* The only thing in ''SilentHill'' more scary than the monster-made radio static or the ghoulish background music? Dead silence.
* ''[[{{Halo}} Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' uses this trope for the Flood. In the cutscene there are zero enemies around even though a dead body just fell at John. However, the music and faint sounds keep some sound around. Then the Flood arrive.
** The others also use this, but to a lesser extent.
* ''GearsOfWar'' uses this trope. The sounds of you moving and some ambient sounds in the Locust tunnels help convey it, as does the line "It's quiet... too quiet."

* Several levels in ''MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'', such as The Communications Blackout, are entirely devoid of music until you complete the main objective.
* The middle third of the BattleshipRaid level in ''RType Final'' lacks music, and with the (intentional?) slowdown it becomes even creepier.

* In ''MegaManBattleNetwork 3'', when you're in ACDC Town at nighttime in the first story ark, all background music is completely turned off, only the sound effects of the menu opening.

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* In ''MarbleHornets'', whenever SlenderMan appears, the camera typically produces heavy audio distortion before the sound cuts off completely.
** The series does this a lot even in entries which don't feature the SlenderMan. The video footage is mostly recorded with only ambient background noise (that is, without a soundtrack), most of which doesn't get picked up by the camcorders that the characters are carrying.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* A variation is used in the episode "Shriek" from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', where the only sound heard is a very high tone. [[spoiler:It's not actually silence, but to show that Shriek has gone deaf.]]
** Earlier in the same episode they do go completely silent, with the only sounds being the occasional distorted footfall when Batman moves.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* In TheVietnamWar, soldiers could tell when stuff was about to go down because the ambient animal noises and scurrying would stop if there were already other humans about.

* Any disaster area that has been absolutely scoured of life will be eerily quiet except for any wind that happens to be blowing- those subtle animal noises you normally hear but tune out are gone.
** A similar effect is seen in particularly desolate/lifeless regions, e.g. deserts well away from civilization during the day when most of the animals are asleep.

* Not quite total silence, but the background noise of crowds and traffic fades to almost nothing just before the eruption kicks off in ''{{Volcano}}''. The effect is to convey the impression that the eruption is '''really loud''', without actually deafening the audience.
* Used very effectively in VanillaSky, where in a crowded bar the already unsettled protagonist mutters he wishes everyone would shut up, and ''all'' ambient noise suddenly stops ''dead''. Seen in the cinema, for a brief moment you'd think the audio track had failed, as the camera doesn't cut away immediately when this happens. Then when it does, everyone in the bar is looking right at the protagonist, in deafening silence. Very unnerving.
* Non-threatening example: in ''ThankYouForSmoking'', a hot-shot's assistant points out that their building's elevator is completely silent.

* ''NoCountryForOldMen'' does this a lot, and NothingIsScarier...
* Done so perfectly in ''{{Equilibrium}}'' that the commentary says audiences thought that the movie itself had been accidentally turned off. It's completely silent ''and'' totally black for several seconds.

* Prior to the final duel in ''{{Sanjuro}}'', it becomes completely silent as the duelists stare each other down. The eventual strike is punctuated by the ScareChord as indicated above.